The spring-loadedball-bearings thatheld theunderlever inplace werestiff at first,but thenloosened off

42 AIR GUNNER

UNDER-LEVER ACTIONCocking the rifle is easier than you mightexpect in terms of effort needed tocompress the spring. Only ‘moderate’ effortis needed to pull down the lever until thesear connects with the piston. The onlything that’s hard about cocking the rifle isreleasing the cocking lever from its

GunPedigreeEditor Mattis impressedby theDIANASTUTZENMODEL 46and itspeerlesspedigree

Love or hate its striking looks,the Stutzen is a rifle that makesan impression. I hadmonumentally highexpectations of it because of

its Diana pedigree. They’ve beenmaking air rifles for 118 years, so theyshould know a thing or two aboutgunmaking. The reason they havestayed in the game so long is becausethey are good at what they do. Butwould the Stutzen Model 46 in .22calibre live up to my impossiblyhigh expectations?

The rifle may be an under-lever, like many other spring pistonairguns, but what makes this rifle standout from the crowd is its looks. Resemblinga cross between a .303 Lee Enfield rifle -that your great grandfather may havecarried in the trenches - and a full-borehunting rifle, the Stutzen is certainlystriking. Its styling is classic and timelessand if that isn’t a reason to want one, Idon’t know what is.

Running the length of the rifle, thestock stops just short of the muzzle. Thistype of stock is known as a Mannlicher,named after the German gunmakinggenius who invented it. The name ‘Stutzen’comes from the German for ‘support’ andthis name is given to this sort of riflebecause the forestock appears to supportthe barrel.

A nice touch which gives the rifle asporting look is the Schnabel tip and theMonte Carlo stock’s raised cheek-piece. It’sa beautifully sculpted piece of timber andthe white spacer between the rubber buttpad and the stock is yet another stylishfeature that makes model 46 stand out asa rifle of distinction.

The sizeof the stock is

probably more suited topeople with larger frames. I found

it fitted me perfectly and, although it’sheavy, the rifle is well balanced. With allthat wood on the rifle, I expected it to beheavier, but weighing in at 3.63kg it isn’tas heavy as you would expect. You wouldalso expect the rifle to be heavier than abreak-barrel springer because of theextra weight of the under-lever, but itisn’t.

Being hidden withinthe stock, the underleverdoesn’t spoil thebeautiful lines of theStutzen. A largeportion of theforestock is cut out toaccommodate thecocking lever, whichmight explain why theModel 46 is relatively light.

You will either love or hate thelooks of the Stutzen, but it

makes an impression

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Diana logo: Diana, thehuntress, is shown

throwing away her bow andarrow in favour of an air rifle

– wise choice Di!

work up to about 15 metres, but beyondthat you really need a telescopic sight toensure accuracy. The reason being that a2mm error at 10 metres translates into amuch bigger error at 40 metres, which canlead to you missing the target. So, Iremoved the rearsight and fitted a BSAoptic to the Stutzen’s 11mm scope rail. Thelength of this rail gives plenty ofadjustment for eye relief.

Having a raised cheek piece on thestock is good, especially if you have a scopemounted because it raises your head,making it easier to see through the scope.

The rearsight could be detached byremoving a screw, which made

fitting a scope much easier. The rifle looked even

better with the scopefitted, resembling a full-bore hunting rifle. Italso performed very

AIR GUNNER 43

say RWS Superdomes are the best pellet touse as they are slightly lighter than the AirArms pellets, but I didn’t have any at handwhen I was testing the rifle. The transferport just pushes shut and the rifle is readyto shoot.

What I like about this method ofloading the rifle is that it’s ultra safe.There’s no chance of fingers becomingtrapped in the remote chance that thecocking mechanism failed.

Another feature I like – and there aremany – is the automatic safety catch,which is applied every time the rifle iscocked. You can release the safety or re-apply it via a button at the end of thecompression cylinder.

OPEN SIGHTSSo the rifle was ready to shoot, andbecause the Stutzen comes with opensights, so I could try it straight from thebox. The ramped foresight blade seemed alot thicker than I am used to and I wasdoubtful how accurate the Stutzen wasgoing to be with open sights, but after afew shots, my fears proved to beunfounded. At 10 and 20 metres the riflewas exceptionally accurate.

What aided this superb accuracy wasthe fully-adjustable rearsight. Theelevation wheel was numbered and thewindage adjustment had notches on, sothe sights were easy to adjust.

Open sights are fine for short range

retainer. The lever is held in place by twospring-loaded ball-bearings and to beginwith they would not let go of the leverwithout a struggle. However, in time thecatch loosened up and was much easier tooperate.

The rifle cocked, you return the lever toits retainer and load the pellet by openingthe transfer port. It’s located between thepiston chamber and the barrel and pops upwhen you press a button. The pellet isloaded directly into the barrel, not into thetransfer port. There is no danger of puttingthe pellet into the transfer port as it’s toosmall to accommodate a .22 pellet.Access to the loading port is easy,but I found it difficult to getsome pellets seated. Aftertrying several brands, Ifound that Air Arms pelletswere easiest to seat.RUAG, the distributors,

well, giving me tight groupings at 30m. But what makes the Stutzen so

accurate? Well, there’s the high graderifled barrel, but that accuracy also hassomething to do with the trigger. Its twostage adjustable trigger was crisp, therewas no ‘creep’ or over-travel and it came tomy forefinger easily. But there is oneelement of the rifle that I thought wouldaffect the accuracy and that is the recoil.

KICKING RIFLEOne of the first things you notice about theStutzen is the ‘kick’. I’ve said it looks like a

Editor’s TestPedigree

Gun

The Stutzenwas remarkablyeasy to cock

The pop-up breech loadingmechanism made the air rifleextremely safe and not havinga break-barrel ensured therifle remained accurate

With the breech firmly closed,the Diana was ready to shoot

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Editor’s TestPedigree

Gun

Lee Enfield .303 and it kicks like one whenfired. You have to ‘shoot round’ this recoiland I found that, as with any springer, ifyou keep your hold light, then the kickdoesn’t affect your aim too much. I actuallyliked the recoil; it made me feel I wasshooting an extremely powerful rifle.

This recoil is a result of the largeloading port. Because the port is so large toallow good access to the breech, the transferof the air isn’t as efficient as it might be.Consequently air pressure is lost and tomake up for this, the Stutzen has to have abeefy spring and piston and the‘substantial’ recoil generated by these largecomponents is what gives the Diana itshefty ‘kick’.

But apart from kicking like a mule, theDiana was incredibly refined. Whencocking it there was no graunchiness, onlya slight wheeze you get on most springpiston rifles when the spring is beingcompressed in the cylinder. And there wereother touches that gave the impression thisDiana Stutzen was worthy of the illustrious

name it bears. The picture of Diana thehuntress near the breech re-assured youthat Diana was proud to declare this riflewas one of theirs.

There is no denying this rifle standsout. Its unique stock makes it a bit special.You can imagine your mates beingimpressed as you pull the Stutzen fromyour gun slip. There is something about itthat seems timeless, which makes this riflea classic.

But it’s not only the Stutzen’sMannlicher stock that makes it such anotable rifle. It’s accurate, powerful andis equally at home plinking targets inyour back garden, or hunting in thefield. So it’s a good general purposehunting rifle. The only quarry theStutzen might not be good for is rats.The reason being that the Stutzen is along rifle and would be unwieldy insomewhere like a farm building. Thatsaid, the Model 46 is solidly built, so it

could stand being handled around afarmyard.

Even though a large slot has been cutout of the stock to make room for thecocking handle, the actual amount oftinker that removed from the stock iscomparitively small. This shows howlittle ‘play’ Diana expect from theircocking lever and how confident thegunmakers are that their componentswill not wear adversely. If you look at thespring-loaded ball-bearings, you will seethere are two each side of the lever tokeep it in place. On many underleverrifles there is one ball-bearing to keepthe cocking in place. Again this isevidence of the quality of workmanship.

So, did the Stutzen live up to my sky-high expectations? I can say it definitelydid. It may be a little costly, but then thisis a rifle of distinction and I would saythe quality remains long after the priceis forgotten.

DIANA STUTZEN MODEL 46 FACTSDISTRIBUTOR: RUAG

CONTACT: 01579 362319ENQURIES@ RUAG.CO.UK

ACTION: UNDERLEVER SPRING PISTONCALIBRE: .177 AND .22

STOCK: BEECHSIGHTS: OPEN SIGHTS ADJUSTABLE ATREAR FOR WINDAGE AND ELEVATION

WITH 11MM SCOPE DOVETAIL RAILO/A LENGTH: 103.5CMS

BARREL LENGTH: 35.6CMSWEIGHT: 3.63KG

POWER: 11+FT.IBS.COCKING EFFORT: MEDIUM

PRICE: £420

The Model 46feels like a properhunting rifle

This is a well balancedand good looking riflethat anyone would beproud to own

There was plenty ofspace in the breech,allowing the shooter tothumb the pellet home

44 AIR GUNNER

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